George Anthony to Tot Mom Defense Atty: “You’re badgering me”

Casey Anthony’s ex-boyfriend Anthony Lazzaro returned to the witness stand on Thursday morning to continue cross examination. He talked about Casey’s interaction with her daughter, which he described as seeming genuinely affectionate. “She was a great little girl,” he said of Caylee.

Defense attorney Jose Baez also asked Lazzaro more questions about the “secret” Casey Anthony shared with him, though prosecutors continued to object to him telling the jury what that secret was. Lazzaro said Casey told him about it before she was arrested, but another objection and a sidebar cut off that line of questioning after that.

The prosecution then recalled their first witness, George Anthony, to testify in more detail about the events of June 24, 2008. He spoke first about calling the sheriff’s office to report his gas cans missing, then about his confrontation with Casey Anthony at their home later that day.

He testified that he called authorities about the cans because there had been other thefts in the neighborhood, but he suspected in the past that Casey had taken his gas before. When Casey came to the house later that day and he asked about the cans, he said he did not see into her trunk and he did not smell anything unusual coming from the car besides the gas. He also explained that he placed a small piece of duct tape on one of the cans when Casey returned it because its cap was missing.

In tense, sometimes combative cross examination, Baez pressed Anthony for more information about the cans and suggested possible conflicts between his testimony and previous sworn statements. He questioned why, when Anthony called police on June 24 about the cans, he did not mention that he had not seen his granddaughter in nine days, and why he did not tell the responding officer that he had confronted his daughter about taking gas in the past.

Anthony replied that he did not tell the officer that his granddaughter was missing because, to his knowledge, she was not missing at the time. He acknowledged that, despite suspecting she had done it before, he did not call Casey to ask if she took the cans before reporting them missing that morning.

Baez then had Anthony stand up and mark on a large calendar the date he last saw Caylee (June 16), the date he reported the gas cans missing (June 24), the date Caylee was reported missing (July 15) and the date he first told authorities about his confrontation with Casey about the cans on June 24 (July 31). Anthony clearly grew frustrated with Baez’s repeated questions about when he may have mowed his lawn during that period.

Much of the rest of the cross examination focused on a law enforcement photo that showed one of the cans with a small strip of duct tape on it. There appeared to be some confusion because Anthony said he was shown a different photo in a 2009 deposition of the can with a longer piece of tape on it that he did not place there. Eventually, Judge Belvin Perry sent the jury out of the room and scolded Baez for asking questions about a photograph that the prosecution had not yet entered into evidence.

When Baez attempted to confront George Anthony with statements made in police interviews and his deposition, throwing several different dates and subjects at him at once, Anthony accused the attorney of trying to confuse him. “You’re badgering me,” he stated. “You’re trying to make me upset.”

As Baez pushed him more about when he mowed the lawn, whether he bought new gas cans and why he put tape on the old can if he had the new ones, Anthony snapped back that he and his wife were running on fumes at that point and spending every day searching for their daughter so he does not recall everything he did.

“I’m asking you to treat me with a little respect,” Anthony said, and he would show Baez respect in return.

Judge Perry cut Baez off when he began to ask a question about George and Cindy Anthony being allowed to sit in court during other witnesses’ testimony. “Do not go there,” he warned.

Perry also reprimanded prosecutors at one point for letting Anthony Lazzaro leave the courthouse for lunch after Perry told him to wait outside in case he was recalled to the stand.

On redirect, George Anthony testified that he had no reason to suspect his granddaughter was dead or missing when he called police on June 24, 2008, and when he confronted Casey that day about the cans, he believed that somebody else was caring for Caylee.

Another ex-boyfriend, Ricardo Morales, who dated Casey between February and mid-April 2008, took the stand before the lunch break. He stated that Casey and Caylee usually slept in his bed with him several nights a week during that time. The last time he recalled seeing Caylee was on the morning of June 10, 2008 after she and Casey spent the night at his apartment.

He testified that Casey picked him and his friends up at the Orlando airport on the afternoon of July 15—presumably hours before Caylee would be reported missing—and that she was happy and smiling at the time, never mentioning that anything had happened to her daughter.

Morales is expected to continue his testimony after lunch.